Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Until I left home for college, the "Nourishing Traditions" approach to eating was all I knew even if I didn't even know there was a formal name for it at the time... After all I was brought up by a very wise mother in rural Ireland who fed us primarily raw eggs, raw milk, cod liver oil, liver and bone broths along with the best and seasonal produce and meat all produced on our small self sufficient farm.... Fast forward 20 years and having lived in many different countries and even continents and my diet had migrated towards something very different that didn't resemble the "wise " diet of my formative years.... think croissants, coffee, lean meats, still a lot of home cooking but somehow the important basis of a nourishing diet had been lost as did some of my vitality, clarity and health. In 2006 before I became pregnant with my son, I discovered the book that changed a lot of things for me and give me some " aha" moments, even then I was still struggling with all of the different diets and their approaches out there, raw, vegan, vegetarian, you name it, I read about it, tried it, developed amazing recipes for them but somehow I kept coming back to the realization that cooking the traditional way is the best, be it French, Irish, Italian or any other cuisine...

I also was lucky to attend a conference in which Dr. Natasha McBride, author of the amazing "The Gut and Psychology Syndrome" was the keynote speaker and met an amazing women in the Ann Arbor community who had successfully implemented the "GAPS" diet to help her son overcome some health challenges. She made me aware of how challenging it can be to do this alone, without support and without general societal understanding and comprehension of this approach to eating.

In 2011, my own family was confronted with a major health crisis in which I had to overhaul every facet of our diet, and the regiment of the implementation of the GAPS and Nourishing Traditions dietary principles became a cornerstone of our life. Happily, the crisis has subsided and the whole family feel and look healthier. I came in contact with many other people who started to make the connection between their gut health and their overall well being ( or illness) and who experienced amazing positive changes in their health status through adopting this dietary approach.

As a result of both my background and experience, I have decided to focus more of my business efforts in helping families and individuals reclaim their health through application of the principles of the "Nourishing Traditions" and or full or partial GAPS diet depending on the circumstances. The support I offer could be simply helping a family become organized in their kitchen to implement the diet, or could be more hands on though preparing the staples of the diet ( bone broths, fermented staples, condiments) and or designing and cooking weekly, bi weekly or monthly menus that are compliant to the diet, yet innovative and seasonal.

I plan to work in consultation with local physicians, specialists or naturopath's that are resident in the Ann Arbor area that would recommend a " GAPS" approach to a specific health concern and I am especially interested in working with families with young children.